Half the British population now suffer from “nomophobia” — the fear of being without a mobile phone — research suggests.

A study indicates that people are increasingly attached to their phones, rarely putting them out of reach. The findings show that about a fifth of people check e-mails and messages while in bed, and 42 per cent take their devices to the beach.

From 1,000 British workers surveyed, slightly more than half said that they feared being “out of mobile phone contact”. The study, by the OnePoll company, found that women were 17 per cent more likely than men to suffer from